Shadow of a Wizard
by Runs With Turtles
Summary: Betrayal, trust, friendship and all kinds of bonds... Gee. I seem to be unable to make summaries.
1. Birds

Disclaimer: If you believe I'm J.K. Rowling, I believe you are Napoleon, Dalai Lama and one big salamander. So no, I don't own them, but unfortunately, I used my head a little too much in creating this. I'm just loaning the names and location… So please don't sue me, hunt me down and murder me or lock me in the same room with a large band of bees.

Chapter I

The Scars

Light fell to the cold stone steps from a window far above the hallway. She held her breath for a while longer trying to ease her racing mind and bring a smile on her face. Unfortunately, the smile she so determinedly tried to create looked like she was about to find a kettle, place it on her head and run around attacking innocent squirrels and accusing them of stalking her. She sighed frustrated and considered banging her head on the thick wooden door for the twelfth time that morning. She knew she had to go in. And so, bracing her mind, she opened the door.

The curtains were still slightly fluttering as the air pushed itself inside the gloomy room from a window that was ajar. She took mental note that the papers and ever-growing book piles were still just as they had been when she had left the room before… However, the man sitting by the writing table seemed to be busy. He held the golden feather covered with ink plots on the piece of parchment that was filled with small handwriting eyes zooming around it as thought trying to find a great mystery entrapped in it… The only problem seemed to be that the paper was upside down.

The woman coughed silently and fixed the smile back on her lips. Was she shaking or was it the tower?

"Err… Master?"

The man took no notice in her words.

"Sir?"

This time he put the quill down and turned his smoke grey eyes towards her. He seemed calm, but she could read from his distracted expression, that it was only the achievement of great effort.

"What is it, miss Dunwoody?"

"Oh, sorry to… to bother you, sir, but… but… a bird. I-it came with… with… Letters. That's right... Letters. This morning. A bird. Came. With letters."

The man stared blankly at her.

"Yes… You know, we do use owls to carry the letters…They are not planning to take over Hogwarts, so there is no need to be afraid."

"Oh no, sir… No. This wasn't an owl," Miss Dunwoody seemed rather proud of the notion, "this was an eagle… At least I think it was an eagle. I've never seen an eagle, but when it came fluttering its wings down to the Great Hall and screamed… no, wait it didn't flutter, it glided. Like a dementor, but with its wings, it didn't have a robe or a cloak or anything… just feathers, but then again, it was a bird. And Master Ravenclaw told Hugo to 'make that eagle shut up', so I'm pretty sure it _was_ an eagle… And it was very big too. The claw thingies were very sharp… It scratched Hugo's ear and they had to put some herbs on the wound to heal it properly… and then… umm…"

The man gazed her silently with a pained expression. She was quite sure he had fallen back to his own thoughts and needed all his willpower to see the importance of her visit.

"Sorry, sir… I… I'll just give you this letter… Master Ravenclaw told me that it is important and she'd hope You would read it as soon as possible."

After a short and uncomfortable silence, the man stood up and reached his hand to take the piece of paper from her shaking hands. "Thank you," he said in a tone that told her, she was supposed to leave. But Miss Dunwoody stood still staring at the ground unable to find the proper words.

"Is there anything else?" the man asked, but to her relief there was no irritation in his voice.

"Uhm… yes, sir… there… there was another letter too…"

"Oh?"

"Yes."

Silence.

"Well, you can leave it on the table if you please."

"But, sir, this letter… it… it wasn't addressed to you…"

"It wasn't?"

"No" miss Dunwoody started to feel slightly uncomfortable again. She tried to lift her gaze from the floor, but the dusty wooden boards seemed so very interesting at the moment. This time there was a bit of irritation in the air as the silence yet again grew longer. Just as the man was about to open his mouth to ask the woman to continue, the words burst out hastily.

"It is for L-lady Eleanor. It was brought here by… by a large black crow. But nobody dared to open it so master Ravenclaw told me to bring it here too."

The woman tossed a yellowish scroll to the table and stood rather nervously beside it avoiding the mans eyes. The calm expression had for a moment left his features to show a deep pain in hearing the name of the person the letter was addressed to. In an instant he recovered and stared at the scroll and the black and blood red strings that were tied around it. He did not make any motion towards touching it. In fact he looked as thought he wanted nothing more than to erase the existence of such thing and carry on without never seeing it again.

The man turned away from the table leaving the scroll untouched.

"You may go, Miss Dunwoody."

There was a new sharpness in his tone, which made the woman shiver.

"Sir, there is…"

"If there is anything else you needed to bring to me, leave it here. If Rowena told you to tell me something more, you can pass her a message, that she can come and see me about it."

She looked at the floor again.

"Yes sir." She turned to leave, but as her hand reached for the handle, the voice stopped her again.

"And Miss Dunwoody, one more thing…" The man was not looking at her, but staring through the window calmly as ever. "If anything else shall be delivered addressed to my wife… bring them straight to me, or if I'm nowhere to be found, burn them unopened."

"Yes, master Gryffindor. I will see that it is done."

"Thank you."

She nodded and opened the door. When the silence of the hallway surrounded her again, she heard a loud crash from the other side of the door. Resting her back to the cold wall, she sighed and tried to ease the beat of her heart.


	2. Stairs

Disclaimer: If you believed I owned them in the first chapter, I won't take your illusions away from you.

Chapter II

The peaceful hall bathing in the yellow sunlight of the morning turned its colours briefly into all of the colours of the rainbow. After a moment of held breath, everything turned back to normal, with the exception of the bright pink wall opposite the slumbering staircase.

"Wrong again. You just don't know how to do this, Albert."

"You are not any better yourself," the voice was trembling with held frustration, anger and helplessness.

"Well, hurry up and try again before anyone notices that!"

"How was I supposed to know that tiny stick worked just as powerfully as a staff would:"

"Just undo it!"

"Undo what?" The third voice belonging to a woman came down sternly and made the owners of the first two jump. Two boys hid a polished wooden stick behind their back and tried their best to look innocent hoping the woman wouldn't notice the pink wall behind them. Unfortunately it was rather big to be unnoticeable.

"Did you do that?"

The boys made grunting noises that could be understood as 'yes' and 'he started it'. The black haired woman raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms before her looking both stunningly beautiful and unbelievably scary. The whiteness of her skin contrasted to her black hair and brilliant blue dress and if she were to smile, she would have been simply adorable. But it was very unlikely that she would have done anything of the sort. Every muscle in her body seemed to be tense and just waiting for a reason to explode. There was no softness in her eyes either. They were solid ice.

"Pardon?"

"We were just trying to use the sticks you introduced to us, ma'am. We didn't mean the wall to be pink, honestly, master Ravenclaw."

There was a dangerous flash in her eyes. "A wand, Mr. Spruce, a wand."

"Yes ma'am. We meant no harm."

"Truly, we didn't."

"And you thought a pink wall would be an appropriate cheer to the lobby, didn't you?"

The boys were silent and bowed their heads waiting for what was coming. But before the woman was able to open her mouth, another woman ran quickly down the stairs. She looked out of breath and her oat-coloured locks were wildly refusing to be bound on the back of her head. She was soft-featured and a little plum and her deep-brown eyes looked straight towards the other woman kindly as she smiled.

"There you are, Rowena. I've been looking all over for you."

"Hufflepuff," the other woman greeted her tone not changing.

"Oh, I see you've done some decorating here. It looks very… erm… joyfull."

"It is not…"

"Oh and before I forget,--" Hufflepuff exclaimed with no notion to what the black haired woman was about to say. "— Algernon and Fredric are needed in their dormitory."

"Albert," the other boy muttered silently.

"Yes, of course, of course my dear. Now, run along, will you."

The boys found their legs moving quickly pass master Ravenclaw, who was angry enough that shooting lightnings from her eyes would have made no significant difference. The woman dressed in yellow however winked her eye and smiled gently.

Rowena Ravenclaw drew a slender wooden wand out of a unnoticeable pocket of her dress and with a graceful movement made the pink wall turn back to normal. Hufflepuff was nodding thoughtfully next to her.

"You are right my dear, that was rather flashy colour, wasn't it."

Rowena sighed and hid her wand back to her pocket. "What is it that you wanted to see me about?"

Hufflepuff blinked. "See you?"

"You said you were looking for me."

"Did I? Sorry, I must have forgotten."

"Lady Ravenclaw!"

Rowena turned towards the staircase as a third woman came down and walked determinedly to her. She bowed her head a little before starting to speak.

"I gave the letters to master Gryffindor. He told me to tell you that he would like you to go and tell him the things he needs to know yourself and any further deliveries to his wife should be either destroyed or given to him."

"Didn't you tell him what I told you to tell?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I wasn't able to tell all. I tried, but he didn't want to hear. From me at least."

Rowena's mouth turned into a thin line and she seemed to be angry yet again.

"I expect people to do as they are told. I have no time to go to him. You were supposed to do that for me," her tone was stern, but Miss Dunwoody did not look away from her even thought she did look apologetic.

Hufflepuff looked from the woman to another and waited a while before interfering their conversation.

"Rowena, dear, it is not Miss Bunnywood's—"

"Dunwoody."

"—Miss Dunwoody's fault. Godric simply wanted to speak straight to you and I can't blame him. But we all know you are busy… Perhaps we can help you with something else to help you get the time you need to go talk to him… or…"

Rowena however drew a deep breath and looked straight into the oat-haired woman's eyes.

"No need, Hufflepuff. I'll go myself." The black haired woman turned around dramatically and headed her steps towards the staircase her blue dress changing it's colour to a darker shade of blue when the shadows reached her. The woman stopped in the middle of the staircase and placed her palm on the handrail. The staircase started to move. She looked very proud of being 'the queen of the staircases' at that moment. She was, after all, the only one to ever be able to control the ever-changing stairs and knew it very well.

When she had disappeared from the view, Helga Hufflepuff sighed heavily. She turned her head to shoot a warm smile to Miss Dunwoody. The woman started to walk towards the Great Hall giving her a sign to follow.

"I wonder how long they will be like this… Hogwarts it self will suffer if they don't know when to stop. Godric sitting in his room without coming down, confused as ever… I'm quite sure the note he sent me three days ago was really meant to the Head of Wizengamot… And Rowena wandering around being unhappy and gloomy about everything… I can't even remember when she smiled the last time," she sighed again, "and Salazar… rummaging around the country being probably just as unhappy as the rest. If he'd stay still for a while he could help me better the moods of everyone and it would all work much better. His apprentices are going to be restless soon."

Dunwoody felt a slight blush creep to her cheeks and felt uncomfortable listening to her superior talking to her like she was her equal.

"Ma'am… Uh, I… I'm not sure you should…"

Helga turned her gaze towards her and saw her discomfort. She smiled again. "I'm sorry, my dear. Of course, you are not the one I should complain to… You must have worries of your own too. But you just seem to be such an understanding young lady, that I totally forgot that."

This time she returned the smile. Then she felt the cold worry reach her mind. "But ma'am… that must mean the school is in troubles. You are not going to…?" her throat felt dry and she wasn't able to continue. But Helga simply continued smiling.

"I'm sure the school will be fine, dear. Now, shall you accompany me to some lunch? I'm quite hungry from all the commotion you know."

"Oh, no, I simply couldn't… I mean what would the others think about that?"

"About what, dear?"

"Well, you are… you. The master. And if you would eat your lunch with me, they would think I'm trying to reach beyond my position or something and then…"

"No need for you to worry about that sort of things, Helena-dear… But somebody has to recognise your superiority considering the other apprentices," Helga mused patting her shoulder in a very motherly way, which seemed weird to Miss Dunwoody, for the woman was not _that _much her senior.

"Thank you, Master."

"Oh, no need to be grateful, dear. It is to be expected that the people we teach learn something and eventually develop into self standing wizards and witches. Why else would we go through all that trouble?"

She smiled softly and allowed a short silence fall between them to show her respect to the words.

"But ma'am …"

"Yes dear?"

"My name is Celestine."


	3. The Hunt

Disclaimer: I'd like to believe you are not stupid. So do I really have to say this?

Chapter III

A roughly build man kneeled to the ground to examine the body of a dead beheaded troll that was lying in a most peculiar position with it's limbs either squeezed out of their places or just simply so filled with cuts that it was impossible to say what they looked like in the first place. The body and the grass underneath it was soaking with blood and something that seemed to be the creatures internal organs for they were connected to the cut that was only halfway visible since the creature was lying on its stomach. The head hadentangleditself onto the vegetation a few meters away. The man did not even wince and the expression on his determined face, which looked like a rough wood sculpture, was only mildly bored. The eyes that were placed deep in their places underneath the thick black eyebrows zoomed trough the body noticing nothing that had any significance. He stood up aiding himself with a thick wooden staff that had a pearly grey bead affixed to it. The man's clothes looked blotted with red that was slowly drying and becoming brown.

"Vincent!"

A younger man hiding behind a tree stumbled forward at the sound of the name.

"Good. You didn't escape further this time. We were mistaken. This is just a normal troll."

"I see, sir." Vincent tore his big round eyes away from the body that was making him feel unwell. His master gave him a few more orders and started to march towards the forest on top of the hillside, they currently were standing. Continually nauseated, Vincent picked up the smallish package from the ground and followed the man.

"Is there a problem with the troll, Vincent?" The man strolling in front of him asked silently.

"No sir. I-I just don't like... I mean… isn't there a slightly less… bloody way to get rid of them… a clean one…"

The man stopped walking and shot a piercing glance at Vincent. After he walked forwards, Vincent swallowed uncertainly and gripped the package firmly.

"I'm sorry, master Slytherin."

"Good."

A faint noise from the bushes on the top of the hill caught Salazar Slytherins attention. He continued pacing to the direction with no interference. His apprentice followed him stumbling to the roots and uneven ground, obviously having a hard time keeping up with him. Apparently he had a hard time even to subsist at all. Salazar decided against caring. He was tired and in an unbelievably bad mood as it was. Being shadowed for hours didn't really give him any comfort either.

A slight movement and a negligent shadow fell to the ground for only a moment too long. _A muggle._ If it would have been in his character, he would have laughed. Their fierce shadow. And that was who it had been the whole time. A muggle. He was sure it was no wizard. Such thing he would have detected long ago. Salazar slowed down. Something was wrong. There was something moving in the opposite direction to the muggle he had detected before. The notion made him sneer in his mind. So there were many.

The man reached the top of the hill slowly. One by one, he located the shadows hiding behind the trees and rocks and learned very quickly they were surrounding him and his apprentice. He was tired of muggles. They probably wanted to capture them to be burned and chopped to pieces. They had been there when the troll was killed after all. Stupid creatures. They honestly believed they had a chance.

It took some time before the muggles felt like doing something. They had circled around the two wizards and by the hour were getting more and more confident. Vincent however didn't seem to notice a thing. He just stamped behind him occasionally humming something gravely. And when the muggles decided to act, he literally jumped, dropped his wand (which Rowena so humbly had given to Salazar and he quite graciously thrown to the apprentice who clumsily had broken his staff) and made small squeaking noises. Quite surely he would have run away again if the muggles hadn't been all around them.

Even master Slytherin had to admit that he was surprised when a brown haired man jumped towards him from behind with no warning. The muggle didn't however fight him. He just gripped his hand and tore the staff away from him while all he could do was stare. The man ran quickly back to the safety of the trees clutching the staff in his hands while the other muggles surrounded them.

There were six of them, which Salazar noted with a mild amusement. He had expected more. They came out of their hiding places from behind the trees and bushes with bows and arrows and rusted swords, but mostly dungforks that they pointed threateningly at them. The brown haired man with a bow that was probably the only proper weapon amongst them stepped forwards first.

"You are trespassing our land, witch."

"Excuse me? This land is the property of no-one."

The muggle smirked evilly and pointed the arrow towards Vincent, who was lying on the ground, trying not to be seen.

"It may be so, but there is no place for the likes of you in this world. You are too close to my land. Where ever you are."

Salazar looked calmly at the crowd surrounding them. Most of them were grinning wildly at the chance of being able to bring about the punishment to the wizards, who were helplessly surrounded. Salazar felt his mouth compose an uncanny smile and reached the wand at the ground with his left foot.

"You asked for a clean way of doing that, Vincent. I believe I should show you, after all, I am supposed to be your teacher," he said eyes flashing greedily.

With a swift movement, he reached the wand, repelled the arrow shot towards him and turned towards the muggles. Most of them didn't have the time to comprehend what happened, as he, with a single movement of his wrist, made a jet of green light erupt from the tip of the wand while yelling:

"_Avada_ _Kedavra_!"


End file.
